There's money in pig's manure

Well, the World Bank is set to teach Filipino hog raisers that pig's manure is not well, waste.

The Washington-based lender on Monday announced a financial incentive scheme for piggeries in the Philippines to invest in wastewater treatment facilities and effectively collect methane, a gas used for electricity generation.

The project will allow piggeries to earn one "carbon credit" per ton of methane captured, the World Bank said in a statement.

Carbon credits may then be traded for access from the Spanish Carbon Fund administered by the World Bank, giving farmers an additional revenue stream.

The project is expected to encourage piggeries to "install proper waste management management systems and reduce the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas," the World Bank said.

"This is the first program of activities (POA) from the Philippines to be registered and it is the first registered biogas POA in the animal waste sector in Southeast Asia, a region home to a significant number of the world’s pigs," World Bank's carbon finance specialist Nick Bowden said in the statement.

The project will be implemented through a partnership with the Landbank of the Philippines, which will provide financing for interested pig owners who wish to install methane-capturing wastewater treatment systems, the World Bank said.

"We are pleased to work with the World Bank on this project because we are hitting two goals at the same time: providing financial support to farmers in the countryside - which is our core mandate - while contributing to efforts at mitigating climate change," the World Bank quoted Landbank President and Chief Executive Gilda Pico.

Full implementation of the program is expected to produce over 100,000 tons of carbon credits per year from dozens of pig farms across the country.

"This is the equivalent to a reduction of 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," the World Bank said.

For his part, World Bank Country Director Motoo Konishi said the program will contribute to the global efforts to address climate change.

"Climate change poses a serious threat to development especially to the ability of the poor to move out of poverty. That’s why initiatives like these are very important," Konishi said.